History and lore teach that the shopping cart was invented by Oklahoman Sylvan Goldman, for his grocery store business, the one that became over time Unarco Industries, LLC, the assignee of this disclosure. At present, the American-market, adult, full-size, wire-made shopping cart has a distinctive construction of a frame, casters, basket, hinged back gate and child seat. For more historical information, see the following: Unarco Company History, Unarco Industries LLC, currently found at http://www.unarco.com/history.html; and for more allegedly historically accurate information, Shopping Cart, currently found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shopping cart; Smithsonian's History Explorer, History of the Shopping Cart, currently found at http://amhistory.si.edu/thinkfinity/podcast/shoppingcart.m4a. See as well the following patents and patent publications: U.S. Pat. No. 2,155,896, inventor Sylvan Goldman (original shopping cart); U.S. Pat. No. 2,662,775, inventor same; and U.S. Pat. No. 2,769,645, inventor same (folding child seat with hinged back gate). For more current information, see U.S. Pat. No. 7,090,230 issued Aug. 15, 2006, inventor O'Quin, assignee Unarco; U.S. Patent Publication No. US 2014/0159327 published Jun. 12, 2014, on a Shopping Cart, inventors Smith and McMurtrey, assignee Unarco, especially at FIGS. 2-3; U.S. Patent Publication No. US 2013/0307239 published Nov. 21, 2013, on a Shopping Cart and Method of Assembling Same, inventors Smith and McMurtrey, assignee Unarco, especially at its background; and “Manufacturing Shopping Trolleys,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5hwY1s0O0M, uploaded according to YouTube Apr. 12, 2008.
The following pending patent applications are incorporated by reference in full as if fully set forth in this disclosure: U.S. application Ser. No. 14/098,744, filed Dec. 6, 2013, inventors Smith and McMurtrey, assignee Unarco, also known as U.S. Patent Publication No. US 2014/0159327 published Jun. 12, 2014.
Existing shopping carts have a frame that supports the basket, which frame is typically made predominately from metal tubing. However, metal tubing has greater weight and is more complicated and costly to manufacture than some other types of structural members. The overall weight and manufacturing cost of a shopping cart may be able to be reduced by advantageous structural modifications that reduce the amount of metal tubing used in the frame, but such modifications present challenges in maintaining suitable structural strength and durability. Existing shopping cart designs do not meet this need. The present disclosure is provided to address this need and other needs in existing shopping carts. A full discussion of the features and advantages of the present invention is deferred to the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.